VOA慢速英语2104 塑料袋—禁止还是不禁?

 

AS IT IS 2014-12-16 Plastic Bags: To Ban or Not to Ban? 塑料袋—禁止还是不禁?

This is the holiday season in the United States.  People are buying gifts and carrying them home, usually in plastic shopping bags.  They are only a small amount of the huge number of disposable plastic bags that are used all year long to contain groceries and other items.

Janet Larsen directs research for the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.  She says too many plastic bags end up as litter, polluting waterways.

“They get caught in bushes and trees. In storm water systems, they end up clogging² up sewers³.”

In an effort to keep plastic bags out of the environment, California recently became the first state to ban businesses from giving new plastic bags to customers.  Some other states and cities charge a small amount of money for every bag given out.  That is meant to encourage people to bring their own bags when they go shopping.

Mark Daniels is senior vice⁴ president for environmental policy at Hilex Poly, one of the country’s largest plastic bag manufacturers and recyclers.  He says people should be able to get new plastic bags without paying.  Mr. Daniels says they are a good environmental choice.

“Every single scientific litter study that has been done always show that plastic retail⁵ are a fraction of one percent.”

Some environmentalists claim that plastic bags are clogging landfills.  However, Mark Daniels points to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency that says that is not always true. 

“All plastic bags, not just retail bags, are 4/10ths of one percent the waste stream.”

Five years ago, Washington D.C. placed a 5-cent fee on every plastic bag given out by businesses in the city. The money is being used to clean up the local Anacostia watershed⁶.

And the effort is making a difference. Brian Van Wye heads storm waterprogram implementation⁷ at the city’s Department of the Environment.  He says once people started to pay for plastic bags, they used less of them. Fewer bags ended up in the waterways.

“The stream clean-up groups are telling us that they’ve seen a 60 percent reduction in the disposal bags that they find while they’re doing stream cleanups.”

He also says that’s helping⁸ to save water life.

“We also know that plastic bags, they break down over time.  It's something aquatic⁹ life will consume and ingest and that can cause serious harm and potentially death for aquatic life like fish and turtles.”

But customers who say they need shopping bags aren’t always happy about paying for them.  At a Washington restaurant, Bill Ford¹⁰ says he has to use a bag to carry out his lunch. 

“I don’t know why some people need to pay because, some people, a small minority of people are throwing stuff into rivers and waterways.”

Still, Carol Powers, who also paid for a bag, approves of Washington’s program.

“It seems kind of silly to pay five cents for a bag, but if that’s what it takes to help save the environment, then it’s a good idea.”

Hilex Poly and other manufacturers are recycling the bags. Mark Daniels says that is a better alternative than taxing or banning them.   

“We reprocess it, we clean it, we shred¹¹ it, we make new post-consumer recycle product and put that back into the manufacturing of new bags.”

But Janet Larsen of the Earth Policy Institute doesn’t think that’s the answer.

“The plastic bag industry has often used recycling as a deterrent¹² for communities that, even when residents are saying, we want to limit these.  It really doesn’t help to minimize the problems. What we would advocate for would be a washable, reusable bag to take the place of all those plastic bags.”

Bags like the one Carol Chastang uses to carry her lunch…

“This is my contribution to keeping the environment cleaner and safer.”

More than 18 million Americans now live in communities that tax or ban plastic bags, and that number is expected to go up again next year.

Words in This Story

litter – n. things that have been thrown away and are lying on the ground in a public place

disposable -n. something that is made to be thrown away after it is used once

clog¹ – v. to slowly form a block in (something, such as a pipe or street) so that things cannot move through quickly or easily

alternative – adj. offering or expressing a choice.

1 clog   

vt.塞满，阻塞；n.[常pl.]木屐

参考例句：

• In cotton and wool processing,short length fibers may clog sewers.在棉毛生产中，短纤维可能堵塞下水管道。
• These streets often clog during the rush hour.这几条大街在交通高峰时间常常发生交通堵塞。

2 clogging   

堵塞，闭合

参考例句：

• This process suffers mainly from clogging the membrane. 这种过程的主要问题是滤膜的堵塞。
• And you know that eyewitness that's been clogging up the airwaves? 你知道那个充斥着电视广播的目击证人？

3 sewers   

n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

6 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

7 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 aquatic   

adj.水生的，水栖的

参考例句：

• Aquatic sports include swimming and rowing.水上运动包括游泳和划船。
• We visited an aquatic city in Italy.我们在意大利访问过一个水上城市。

10 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

11 shred   

v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少

参考例句：

• There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
• The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。

12 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。